A smiling gunman opened fire on a crowded bar in central Tel Aviv on Friday. At least two people were killed.
Five more people are said to have been moderately wounded in the attack and have been taken to hospitals in the Tel Aviv area. (Daily Mail)

Police are hunting a gunman who has killed two and seriously wounded at least four others after spraying bullets into a packed bar in central Tel Aviv.

Security forces rushed to the scene of the attack after the shooter fled.

A manhunt is now understood to be underway and police are warning residents to stay away from the area.

It is not immediately clear what motivated the shooting, which initial reports say happened at a downtown bar on the city’s Dizengoff Street.

According to eyewitness reports on Twitter, the shooter smiled before spraying bullets into the packed bar.

Nati Shakked, owner of the Simta bar on Dizengoff Street, which was hit by gunfire, said the assailant had waited on a bench outside before taking a machine-gun out of a bag and ‘shooting in every direction’.

The attack comes as Israelis relaxed before sundown and the beginning of Shabbat, the holiest day of the week.

It is thought that the attack was carried out by a single gunman who reportedly used an Italian made sub-machine gun, which he took from his backpack before starting the attack.

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper has reported that Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai said that at this stage the municipality had ‘no special instructions’ and asked the public to enable the security services to do their work.

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